Why Arts Workers Want Unions: Inside the Organizing Wins at MoMA & the Guggenheim

INTERVIEWS

Regional Labor Review (Fall 2019)

Why Arts Workers Want Unions: Inside the Organizing Wins at MoMA & the Guggenheim

by Madeleine Disner

This past year, employees at two of New York’s best-known art museums — MoMA PS1 and the Guggenheim — fought successfully for union representation. The workers chose an experienced industrial labor organization, the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE Local 30), to represent them.

These unions were formed despite the formidable obstacles that affect all labor rights efforts in this country. For several decades now, there has been an aggressive move toward union-busting behavior in corporations large and small. The fraction of private-sector workers with union membership, nearly one-third in the 1950s, has plunged to 6.4%.1 However, more workers of late have been insisting on their union rights and having the courage to organize. Two of the individuals behind the successful MoMA PS1 organizing drive and subsequent contract negotiation are Josh Perry and Serena Cornell. What follows is, first, an interview with Josh (JP) and Serena (SC). Then we interview the union officials most involved in the campaigns at both PS1 and the Guggenheim: Robert Wilson (Local 30 business representative) and Andres Puerta (Local 30 organizer). We also sought interviews with museum management but have received no response.

MoMA PS1, MoMA’s contemporary art space, Long Island City, Queens. Photo credits: Regional Labor Review

1

Union Members – 2018, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Jan. 2019): www.bls.gov.

The Workers’ Perspective Q: Tell us about yourself. What’s your name and your position?

JP: I’m Josh Perry. I am a visitor engagement associate at MoMA PS1. I have been for over two years. I graduated with a degree in art history in 2017 and moved to New York from Ohio. I’ve been working at PS1 since I moved here.

SC: I’ve also been a visitor engagement associate at PS1 for over two years. I was raised in the city and graduated from college here with a B.S. degree in arts and business.

Q: What do you do as a visitor engagement associate?

JP: We work in the galleries. If you go to the museum, you’re accustomed to seeing people with the museum’s logo on the t-shirt standing on the side of the gallery. If you have questions about the artwork, you can come up and ask that person questions about the art.

If you want a tour, sometimes I’m assigned to give public tours. So that’s something where you need to know about all the artwork in order to talk about each and every exhibit. That’s a big part of the job, researching and knowing the exhibit. I also work at the front desk — I sell tickets and answer the museum’s only public phone line. We sell memberships as well for the Museum of Modern Art downtown.

Q: Tell me a little about this unionizing process. How did it go for you?

JP: It started last year. It was a couple different things. In general, last year was a bad year for MoMA PS1.

They rescinded a job offer for a woman when she announced that she had become pregnant, and that got a lot of bad press.2 Then a large-scale union protest was held at the museum late last year because the installation and maintenance departments were in a battle over their contracts, and it didn’t feel like the museum was budging enough.3 They also fired one of our coworkers. We didn’t know why she was let go for the longest time until an NLRB posting was in the staff break room that said she was terminated because of union-related activities.4 So

2

The employment discrimination case of curator Nikki Columbus vs. MoMA PS1 was settled in March 2019. In addition to giving her financial compensation, the museum pledged to update its written policies for protecting women, working parents, and other caregivers who apply for jobs or work there. See “MoMA PS1 Settles With Curator Who Said Giving Birth Cost Her Job Offer,” by Melena Ryzik, New York Times (3/26/19).

3

See for example: “Art Handlers at MoMA PS1 Demand Same Pay as Manhattan Colleagues,” by Colin Moynihan, New York Times (12/06/18).

4

The NLRB, National Labor Relations Board, is the federal government agency in charge of regulating union elections.

with all of that happening, and probably because of that, they then changed all our statuses to at-will employees.

They introduced a new policy in the procedures manual.

At that point, I had already been thinking about unionization. I had held leftist political beliefs for a long time, so that was something that I was always interested in. And I just felt like at that moment with all of that going on publicly about the museum, privately what they were doing to us, it seemed like the right time. So I reached out to the Museum of Modern Art’s union, which is actually part of [UAW Local] 2110, a different union than ours. They messaged me back and I met with them. Then I met with the union that represents the art maintenance and installation departments, Local 30, on the recommendation of one of the installers. He said, “2110 is fantastic, I don’t want to dissuade you from doing that, but we’re already a part of this union, we think if you were a part of this union, it would make the union stronger.”

So I made the decision. Then from there, once I decided 30 was the right move, I started holding meetings with the employees with Local 30, basically trying to convince people that the union would be the right thing to do. It was a little period of convincing people to join it. People weren’t necessarily apprehensive about the benefits of being in a union or unions in general, they were just scared of the museum and the way they treated Kaitlyn especially. They just didn’t want to lose their jobs, so assuring people that wasn’t going to happen took a little time.

Q: How were you able to convince them there weren’t going to be ramifications?

JP: By basically pointing out what happened with Kaitlyn, assuming that the museum’s not going to make this mistake again. We told people, “This is the right time to do this.” Maybe if we did this another time, maybe something could potentially happen. But the museum can’t continue to posit itself as a leftist institution and continue to face all this labor-related bad press.

At the end of the day, I don’t know how much I fully convinced a lot of people; they just knew a majority of us wanted to do it and they didn’t want to be left out. So I think that had a big part to play in it as well.

Q: They got on board, that’s good.

SC: He really pulled things together. We’re all really proud of him. Without him it wouldn’t have happened.

Serena Cornell and Josh Perry

JP: At that point I had a lot of time on my hands, I guess you could say. I was single at the time, and I didn’t have anything to do after work. So I was just like “If anyone has any questions, I’ll be here for 30 minutes to an hour, this is something that means a lot to me so come up and ask me any questions if you’re apprehensive about it.” Yeah, that was basically the beginning of getting it started.

Q: So after you had everyone’s support, how did you bring it up with the management, and how did you feel like it went?

JP: Basically it was just convincing the vast majority of people to do it, the union bringing out cards… Given that it’s the same union that represents the installation and maintenance department, the union representative already had a prior existing relationship with our Associate Director of Administration who acts as HR. There is no HR department at PS1.

They handed out cards to everybody; they were like: “Let’s get everybody to sign the cards.” We did a card counting method. They said, “If the museum doesn’t want to do this then we’ll hold an election but we’re going to get you guys the signatures, get the majority of the unit to sign these cards.” And we did it! The museum said: “We won’t go to an election, we’ll accept the card counting,” and that was that. I mean that was at the beginning of this year, and then we entered into negotiations. It took a long time to see the whole thing through.

Q: So how do you feel after having gotten past it? Does it seem like changes are being made? Is it helping?

JP: That’s an interesting dilemma. For one thing, the contract isn’t going into place until September 1st. But right now, since it’s already been signed onto and agreed to, we’re acting as it if it’s in place more or less. But the museum management doesn’t necessarily understand employee rights. They don’t know how to deal with a union — they don’t know what constitutes an investigatory meeting, for example.

So, last week an administrator passed me and said, “Hi.” I just had a lot on my mind, passed by him and yelled back “Oh, hi!” Today, he issues me a verbal warning because of my “tone” toward him as “inappropriate, not conducive to a positive work environment.” This is the second time in a week that they have reprimanded one of our employees for “tone.” Last week, it was the only black woman in our department and she basically pointed out “this is completely ridiculous, I didn’t violate a single rule of the museum union and this feels like a profiling issue.” The union raised that point, and today the union is supposed to email them at some point to discuss it. That’s just a microcosm of how the museum either doesn’t care or they just don’t know what the union means.

Q: …or how they’re coming across with these actions?

JP: Yeah, it’s really weird! I mean, it’s not weird. I can’t say this for sure but they know I’m the person spearheaded the union efforts, they know the person last week is very supportive and is very vocal about not taking any nonsense, and they are supremely uncomfortable with the shifting power dynamics of the museum and the fact that the employees have a semblance of power. The fact that I can sit down in a meeting and say, “I’m not going to say anything unless we have a union rep present and you asking me questions is an investigation.” They are completely flummoxed.

It’s difficult but it was always going to be difficult. We knew this, the installers told us this, they were like, “Look, they’re going to repeatedly violate the terms of the agreement, and if you don’t do anything about it, then the agreement doesn’t mean anything. They’ll continue to run you over.”

SC: Yeah, they kept forgetting to give me my payroll check, like every two weeks they kept forgetting. I think they’re targeting certain people who are a part of the union or in support of it.

JP: It can only be coincidental to a certain degree.

Q: So the two of you were the elected representatives to the negotiating committee?

SC: There were four, two full-time and two part-time.

JP: Basically, the union asked me to be one of the representatives and to find three others. We held a meeting and determined as a unit who we wanted. In terms of the full-time, there’s only four full-timers in the department. So, there was me and a girl named Emily who has been a total rock in the process, she joined on as well. Then when it came to the part-timers, a lot of the part-timers didn’t want to do it. There is a serious culture of fear in the museum. We still don’t have a part-time shop steward. They don’t want to be the target of all this nonsense.

SC: People are leaving quickly because of what’s going on.

JP: I’m actively trying to leave the museum as it stands right now. I’m full time and I’m the shop steward, and that’s great and all, but at the end of the day, there’s always been a culture of fear and that fear is deeply instilled within them that they can’t speak out about anything.

Q: Serena, did you ever get any good explanation for not being promoted to full-time?

SC: Basically they said I didn’t have enough experience, even though I’ve been working there for two years.

Q: Are there any recent examples of something the management says that you can’t question?

JP: Well, for example, we’re at the front desk. Lines are not an issue; people naturally form lines at the front desk. There’s never been an issue of people not knowing where to go or like, “Where do I line up?” But one day, [management] just decides we will put up these stanchions that delineate where people line up. They don’t make any sense. They literally point you in the wrong direction. They’re not accessible for guests in wheelchairs. I can’t point this out [or they take it as] being insubordinate by saying it needs to be done in a different way or even merely suggesting the negatives that come with any of [these] plans, like the fact that to this day, if a guest in a wheelchair comes up to the front desk, we need to leave the front desk because they can’t get through the stanchions. That’s just one thing, and there’s a litany of other things.

Q: Does it feel like, now that you have a union, would you be able to find a new means of communication with higher-ups? Would your union rep be able to help you?

JP: Given the short time frame that we’ve actually been protected by the union, which is a month? A month and a half at this point? It hasn’t been that long. At this point, so many people are so done with the place.

Retroactively trying to go back and fix all the stupid things is not really effective. It’s just going to waste time.

I mean, in the future, we’ve already had it happen, if we’re spoken to in an improper way, I log it. If, for example, [they] do something like that again, I would feel comfortable now pointing out, “This is silly, this is inappropriate and I don’t think we should be doing this.” Like what happened today. I expect to be BCC’d on an email from Bob [Wilson, the Local 30 business agent] explaining that management cannot continue to do this.

And if they do continue to do this, I don’t know what will happen, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it, but I assume it’ll be a kind of grievance on the part of the union submitted to the museum.

Q: Are you finding that the other leaders are being targeted similarly or is it just you two so far?

JP: Well Serena with the pay issue, I’m just hearing about that. But I know, they’ve targeted Serena for the longest time; they don’t like her.

There are remnants of this department from before the new management. They’re basically people that are not prim and proper. They took a member of our staff off the front desk for months. We had no idea why: he’s the nicest guy, he always approaches the visitors with a smile, he does not mess up his money, he has made no discernible issues with working at the front desk, but they took him off the front desk for six months. He was a LaGuardia community college graduate — the museum used to have a partnership with the community college that brought graduates and students from that college into the museum. Those are primarily people of color, almost entirely born and raised in New York. Apparently, that’s not who they want in the museum right now. So, they target certain people for different reasons.

Q: Do you feel like this is worse than the downtown MoMA strike or the other MoMA union?

JP: See the thing is I don’t have any frame of reference. I’ve never worked in a place of this magnitude. I hope to, but as it stands right now, I really don’t know. I mean I've heard stories from like the Shed from somebody that works at both PS1 and the Shed. He says: “If you think PS1 is bad, you have absolutely no idea the level of sheer incompetence which can be achieved.” I’ve heard similar things with the Guggenheim, but I haven’t heard anything about MoMA downtown. I don’t know anyone who works there so I can’t really attest to that.

SC: I’m really happy we’re getting this out. It needs to be known.

Q: Well it’s also probably good to know that unionizing can happen. In theory it can make things better if there’s a stronger employee voice.

SC: I mean it is a big step. I’m mostly doing it for others that come into the job. You gotta start somewhere.

JP: I think a lot of us have that exact motivation. I’m really not going to see much of the benefits from this, I almost hope I don’t see the benefits because I want to leave, I want to go anywhere else. But like being an atwill employee, you can be fired at any point in time? If that’s not a signal that you need protection, I don’t know what is. So the fundamental fact that that is gone is a good thing, cause God knows if I would still be working there if I was an at-will employee. If they could fire me for any reason, if they could fire you for any reason, we would’ve been gone.

Q: Serena, weren’t you named “employee of the month” at one point?

SC: That was way before the current administration’s time.

JP: But before this, the museum gave yearly raises of a dollar. Now when I started there, they paid us $14.25, which is below the current minimum wage. Now, they’ve timed these raises very conspicuously with state laws that require them to raise the wages anyway. But they’ve always claimed, “we’ll give you raises.” Now that’s in a contract that they have to live up to. So we’ve locked in raises. The benefits package can be rescinded anytime when it’s just the museum giving it to you. When it’s in a contract with the union, they have to give it to you, or

something dramatic has to be changed. So in terms of locking in protections, locking in wage increases and making the job protected from the volatility of an incompetent museum, that’s really important.

In terms of the broad strokes of what we wanted to accomplish, I don’t think that we got where we necessarily wanted to be. I can’t speak for anybody else but personally, when I went into it, one my main motivators was, we do the same job and more, we do more duties than this exact position across the water at MoMA. And they pay north of $20/hour for this work, where beforehand they were paying us $16 an hour. So we wanted to get paid $20/hr. Of course the museum says, “We’ve given you raises every past year, so like based on these percentages and the percentages of other cultural institutions...” just a bunch of numbers that we can’t dispute. That was my main issue with the negotiating process. If the museum says it couldn’t afford something, you can’t debate that, you can’t debate a budget. You can’t say, “Well you have 5 executives making north of $100,000 a year, and if you restructure that, potentially, I don’t know, maybe we can be paid more. I don’t know, if you restructure your budget a little bit.” But that sort of thing isn’t up for negotiation. So that was a frustrating aspect about it.

Q: Is that public information? Do people know that you make less than your equivalents elsewhere?

JP: So that’s another thing, the union is very hesitant toward demonstrative action. I get why. I don’t know if we could have rallied the whole department behind demonstrative action just given how fearful they were to just sign a card to join a union, much less put themselves out there in the public sphere. Publicly support the union, have their pictures taken. I mean I understand why we would want to avoid that. But I think that could have been incredibly effective and it would have done a world of good. Because you know, compared to MoMA we’re paid less, the museum has all this bad PR that can obviously get worse. I think we were too easy on them, but at the same time I’m not an expert. I did sort of let off the union representative by saying: “You’ve been through this before, you know a lot about this.”

Q: It’s good to start somewhere.

JP: Yeah, you have to start somewhere. I’m just disappointed we couldn’t start where we wanted to start. The process took so long. I don’t know about you, but I was so ready for the process to be over that I was too ready, and we missed things. Like, I wanted to talk about uniforms. They just sent out a new overall scope for the museum to achieve this diversity equality initiative, or something to that effect. It was a law that was passed for all cultural institutions to adhere to. It talks about not having uniforms or revisiting the idea of having uniforms, because you have transgender and gender-nonconforming individuals who wouldn’t feel comfortable if they wanted to present as a woman but they’re forced to wear a t-shirt and pants, they would feel very uncomfortable with that. So I wanted to broach that with negotiations, but we never got there.

So I wish we could go back and do certain things a different way, but you know I’m happy the process is over and happy the union’s in place.

SC: It’s not technically closed yet.

JP: I know, but I don’t want to go back into meetings and I know you don’t want to…

SC: They were six-hour meetings!

Q: Do you have a different contract than the PS1 installers?

JP: Yes, we do. It just has to do with the 3-year terms of their agreement, the 3-year terms of our agreement. I don’t think it can be enmeshed or anything. And the jobs are so fundamentally different. I mean a lot of the process leading up to negotiation was saying, “What do we do?” because that had never really been outlined before. I mean there was a procedures manual, but the job could obviously be changed to whatever they saw fit.

Formerly the VEs (visitor engagement associates) or gallery associates (GAs) were basically interchangeable with security guards. If we’re at a post and we didn’t have enough staff, they basically just put a security guard there because we basically did the same thing at a certain point because we were just supposed to watch the art and make sure nobody touched it or hurt it or anything like that. We basically had to delineate that this is not our work, that is security’s work.

Another thing was the fact that, and this still gets me, if you sell a membership at MoMA you get a commission for that, that was part of their union contract for selling memberships. We have never gotten commissions for that, we do not now under the contract. They said that because PS1 does not get any revenue from the membership department at MoMA, those commissions can’t be given to MoMA PS1 employees. It’s completely crazy but when I talked to our union rep about it, he was like, “Yeah, there’s nothing we can do.”

And I was like, “How is there nothing we can do? They’re doing the same thing across the water and they’re getting paid and we’re not.” So then we shouldn’t sell memberships!

Q: Yeah, it’s discouraging you from doing your job.

JP: And the museum said, “Well, we’re not going to tell you to go out and sell memberships. If someone comes up to you and wants to buy a membership or renew a membership you can do that.”

Q: Well it sounds like there are a lot of needs that still haven’t been met, but potentially there are ways they can be introduced down the line? Does having a union means there’s more manpower, or personpower, to make that happen?

JP: I can’t predict the future but just generally think about the way that society has shifted in the last three years. I think it will shift even more in the next three years, and whoever is on the negotiating committee then will really do a strong job of fighting for the things that we couldn’t fit into this contract. I mean that’s just basically my blind hope that I have because that’s the only way that we can get through it, other than a grievance of arbitration process which is basically what we’ll run with for the next three years. If the museum

oversteps their boundaries or does the things they’ve been doing lately with these individual meetings, we can file a grievance, they can go to arbitration. And we can have a written statute or — I don’t know what the legal term would be — but like a prior standing that that has already been in place, that we can reference that arbitration to basically act as an addendum to the contract until we get a new one.

Q: That makes sense. I mean it’s a lot of hard work to get it started in the first place so I wouldn’t knock yourself too hard. Were you satisfied with Local 30?

JP: You know, I think I’ve described the ways in which I’m not satisfied with them, and I don’t want to say I’m dissatisfied because but I genuinely don’t know enough about the reasons why they said we can’t do something or we should do something, I don’t know what their motivations are in terms of those things. I was super satisfied with them in the lead-up. I thought they did a fantastic job of always being available for us. If I wanted to have a meeting with them I would have at least two representatives from the union present at that meeting to explain things. They were very open about the process, they didn’t promise too much either. They basically were like: “We’re not going to get everything you want, but we want to make sure we know everything you do want, so we can strategically give things up over the course of the process.”

So it’s tough for me to answer the question. Because yes, I am satisfied with their professionalism and the support they gave us, and the hard work they put into doing it. But, at the same time, it does feel like more could have been done, I don’t know if it could have been done, but it feels that way. But yeah, overall, I would say it’s positive. But I can’t say it’s unequivocally sunshine and rainbows, there are issues with it as well.

Q: You said you were talking to Local 2110 before Local 30? Did that seem better, or different or did you not get far enough into it?

JP: The museum workers at the New Museum are a part of Local 2110, workers at BAM are also members.

They are the clerical and cultural union local of the United Auto Workers. So, I just assumed you have to be in the union that is what you do. Like if you’re an actor you’re in SAG; if you’re an operating engineer you’re in local 30. You’re in the union of what you do, so I went to 2110. So, like most unions, they have certificate training that you could do that’s more related to our work. The certificate training for local 30 is to become a refrigerator electrician. That’s cool, I thought about doing it myself, making a giant career change and moving to Texas you know.

Q: They have refrigerators here!

JP: Yeah, well rent is a little bit insane. But that aspect is definitely an advantage that 2210 would’ve had over Local 30. But 30 is much bigger. Given that they already represent our maintenance and installation departments, it made sense to work with them — they already had a prior relationship with management that could expedite the process.

It was a very long process. And you know another thing that’s been disappointing is that we haven’t gotten any press about it at all. This is the first time I’ve spoken with anyone about this. Meanwhile the unionization of the Guggenheim and BAM and the New Museum, all these other museums have gotten a lot of publicity, and it isn’t for lack of trying. I’ve reached out to the same publications that made those articles and they didn’t respond.

We started a PS1 Union Instagram page to try to get the same thing. Granted, I haven’t been active on it at all, and that’s my fault. But like we made it, and that process of making the Instagram page, it’s all been worth it. Because in the last few days I’ve been in talks with someone who’s on the negotiating committee of a children’s museum in California and they’ve been asking me like, “what’s your process been like?” and they’ve been so appreciative of my help. I would have liked someone to do that for me when I was going through the union organizing, so I’m happy to help them now. That is the moment when you’re like: this is worth it to some degree. You’re helping other people.

The Union’s Perspective Interview with Local 30’s Robert Wilson (RW, Business Rep) and Andres Puerta (AP, Organizer)

Q: Local 30 is part of the national operating engineers union, built by industrial workers. Why is it now organizing workers at major museums?

RW: The union has long represented a wide variety of skilled workers, not just engineers. We’ve represented the art installation workforce at the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan for some time. We have a new generation of leaders, led by Local 30’s business manager Bill Lynn, who come from an activist background.

We try to build an organizing culture. That commitment and organizing experience has helped us win the workers' trust at MoMA, the Guggenheim and elsewhere.

Q: Do employees at museums and other cultural institutions pose special challenges for union organizing? After all, with so many young artists and other creatives trying to make it in the competitive New York art world, they could see a museum job as too valuable to put at risk, no?

AP: Yes, that can be a challenge with the newer employees. But once they work there for months in these lowwage, unstable part-time jobs with no benefits, many start asking questions. They talk with the more experienced workers, many from similar art backgrounds, who share their stories: years of little or no improvements in pay, benefits, or working conditions.

Q: Unions in this country face so many obstacles that it often takes years to organize a workplace – then lots more months to get management to agree to a first contract. But you completed both the organizing and contract signing in just over six months this year? How did it happen so swiftly?

AP: Well, Local 30 already represented some other PS1 employees: the art handlers and exhibition workers who maintain the exhibit through the length of each show. And we won a neutrality agreement with MoMA back in 2015. So that definitely helped this year to limit management opposition during the drive to organize the visitor engagement and gallery workers.

Also, last fall, when our art handlers’ contract with PS1 expired, the workers held a number of very public protest actions outside the museum. They were demanding wage parity with the much better-paid handlers doing the same work at Manhattan MoMA. It got lots of press attention. The museum probably wanted to avoid provoking any more of that once the gallery workers began organizing. So they agreed to recognize the union after a majority of workers signed cards. There was no need for an NLRB election.

Q: We were told of allegations that, even with PS1 having once signed a neutrality agreement, a worker that had tried to organize the union had earlier been fired and filed a complaint with the NLRB. In the negotiating process, how did you work with the younger people with the elected reps?

AP: Our neutrality agreement definitely helped. And, given the strength of the worker organizing committee and their allies among the installers, they did a great job protecting themselves.

Q: The first PS1 contract with the new union just went into effect. Were you satisfied with the results of the negotiations?

RW: It was a good first contract with some real improvements for all the workers. Besides the pay increase, it includes a new pension plan covering even part-timers. The museum committed to pay into an annuity plan.

Plus the workers now have an effective voice through the system of stewards and grievance handling, as well as collective bargaining.

Q: How many visitor engagement and gallery workers are now covered by the union contract?

RW: That unit has 22 to 23 employees now.

Q: With such a small number, how does the union manage grievances?

RW: We’ve represented even smaller units than that. There are two PS1 workers who have agreed to be stewards – one full-time, the other a part-timer. And I will help out too when needed.

Q: One common problem seems to be the museum’s practice of hiring more part-timers instead of adding hours to the current staff so they can become full-timers. Will the contract help them get more hours so they can qualify for health insurance and other benefits?

RW: One thing we won was a seniority clause. So whenever additional work hours are available, management must first offer them to the most senior employees on the part-timers list. For health insurance, though PS1

won’t help with coverage of part-timers, we won a kind of workaround: part-timers whose work hours exceed an agreed threshold will receive a cash bonus. That plus the regular pay increases should help them buy health insurance.

Q: This summer, Local 30 managed to win the first-ever successful union election at the Guggenheim Museum on Fifth Avenue. Nearly 2-to-1 in favor of the union! What issues motivated so many to vote for union representation?

AP: Well, first, this world-class museum had not paid them a serious wage increase in at least five years. And instead of following standard HR methods, they had this good-old-boys network that doled out job assignments to its favorites. The workers really felt it was unfair and that they needed a voice in how things were run.

Q: How many workers are in the new bargaining unit?

AP: There are 140, both full- and part-time. A real variety of art handlers, exhibit installers, carpenters, and painters joined up with the HVAC crew into a single bargaining unit.

Q: How did Guggenheim management respond to the union drive?

AP: Differently than MoMA. As soon as we filed an election petition with the NLRB, management hired a union-busting lawyer from Epstein, Becker and Green. But the museum’s pro-union staff worked really hard and made sure to get lots of public support from the art community to build their campaign.

Q: Since Local 30 was elected to represent the Guggenheim workers, what has been the progress in negotiating a first collective bargaining contract?

RW: We have so far only had one tough negotiating meeting with them, but others are scheduled next month.

Contract between MoMA PS1 and Local 30: PS1 Visitor Engagement Bargaining Unit: TERM: 9/1/2019 – 12/31/2022 SELECTED ECONOMIC AGREEMENTS: PAY RAISES: (a) $200 one-time bonus in lieu of tips for working especial events (b) Sept – Dec, 2019: +$0.50/hour wage raise; Jan. 2020-Dec. 2020: +$1.00/hr raise Jan. 2021-Dec. 2021: +$1.00/hr raise Jan. 2022-Dec. 2022: +$1.00/hr raise FRINGE BENEFITS: Retirement annuity pension plan; paid sick days [both PT & FT employees]; Paid 4 – 6 week vacations [FT only].

NEW EMPLOYEES & PROMOTIONS: Vacancies filled through seniority (among qualified candidates)

Conclusion These cultural institutions have historically gotten away with the idea that young artists who work in some of the most prestigious museums in the world should be rewarded with opportunity, but not decent pay or benefits. However, the workers at MoMa PS1 and the Guggenheim have seen through this myth. After all, what would a museum be without the labor of their staff? Through their efforts and the power of unions like Local 30, these culture workers now have a voice to speak up against any injustices that may arise, and hopefully they’ll continue to inspire others to organize and fight for their rights as well. ___________________ Madeleine Disner is a New York-based writer and editor.

REGIONAL LABOR REVIEW, vol. 22, no.1 (Fall 2019). © 2019 Center for the Study of Labor and Democracy, Hofstra University